There was a slight laugh at the coolness of this reply, which enraged the new skipper.
“Say you so?” he exclaimed, jumping up. “Come, then, shove out the plank, lads, and bring them on one at a time.”
“Stop!” cried little Oliver, at this point. “You’ve forgot me.”
“No, my little man, I haven’t,” returned Swinton, with a cynical smile. “You shall accompany your amiable father; but first I’ll give you a fair chance,” he added, in a bantering tone: “will you navigate the ship?”
“Yes, I will,” answered Oliver promptly.
“Indeed!” exclaimed the new skipper, taken aback by the boy’s boldness, and at a loss for a reply.
“Yes, indeed,” retorted Oliver, “only put me in command, with an auger, and I’ll navigate the ship to the bottom of the sea, with you and all your cowardly crew on board of her!”
“Well said, little master,” cried Grummidge, while a general laugh of approval went round.
Seeing that there was a symptom of better feeling among some of the men, Master Trench was about to make an appeal to them, when—
“Land ho!” was shouted by the look-out in stentorian tones.